Druid's Sorcery
by Jenivy
Summary: Lindsay has a theory for Lori: Sorcery may be the cause behind the strange and uncontrolled magic.
1. Prologue

**_Author's Note:_**

This is a story based, of course, on Dungeons and Dragons. Please understand that this is definitely meant to be a unique one; I would appreciate if no one sent me things like "But elves age at the normal rate and then live for centuries, don't they?" Because in this world, they simply age about 1/5 as fast as humans. Thus it takes a child fifty years to reach maturity equivalent to a ten-year-old human, and such. If you sincerely think I have made a mistake within the D&D system, feel free to tell me; I will listen.

No sound is heard in the air but the muffled noise that comes from within the soft cloudy bower, covered with mist and smelling wonderfully of magic, to those who might be able to sniff it out. This is the lair of a silver dragon, for no other mortal creature would have such a place in which to live. Three rooms were this place now, though the only living presence was in the smallest. There was a cavernous room filled to brimming with treasure beyond imaginable worth to the average person, or even the wealthy person; this, as any average person knows, is where the dragon sleeps. There was a rather messy room stocked with assorted frozen meats and similar things; this was, of course, the dragon's feeding room. And last of all, the smallest, was a still respectably large (to the humanoid thought) room padded fully with warm blankets and almost-solid cloudstuff. This was where two figures lay, entwined, and asleep. They had been rolling about a bit in lustful passion, but now had faded to happy slumber. Both, of course, were entirely devoid of clothing; a handsome and bronzed man, and a slender and beautiful woman.

Someone stirred. Many joyful nights and days had gone by with the happy couple, enjoying each other's company. The one who stirred now, in their wonderfully soft bower of love, was the woman. Her name was Jenai, and she was an elf. Jenai sat up and considered herself. She seemed to have been plumping out a bit, oddly... she didn't know why, hadn't a clue. Jenai had been working out and excercising and eating properly; she even went on occasional rides with Harro! And besides, elves were almost always thin. So what was it? Jenai, as she did every morning, considered that thought. This time she persued the nasty idea lurking on the edge of her subconcious, and caught it.

And Jenai screamed. "_HARRO!_" The bronzed man awoke abruptly, and vanished. In his place stood a mighty silver dragon, glaring around, trying to find what had scared his beloved.

"What, love?" he asked, concerned, when he found no one there. "What is the matter?"

Jenai stared at him, face going red. "You promised you wouldn't- not yet- you said- it wouldn't happen yet- you- I'm -" she spluttered, anger forcing its way into her face. Jenai's normally pretty face was becoming slightly ugly, ruined by the awful expression upon it. It was anger, it was unhappiness. It was... mistrust? Why would his beloved look at him so? He, who had always treated her with kindness and love? And seen it returned in kind? They loved each other and had for a long time, so why would she suddenly feel this way?

"What?" said Harro, who remained in dragon form, but looked elvenly worried anyway. "What's wrong, love?" He, who loved Jenai with all his heart, could not understand why she was so upset and.. _angry. _Why was this?

Jenai took a deep breath, summoning her courage to say the dread phrase, and spoke. "I'm p-p-pregnant, you fool! You _promised_ that wouldn't happen yet!"

Harro stared. Within his deep green eyes, that held no pupils, he was shocked. "_What?"_

"I told you! I'm pregnant! Take me home, _now._ I will not stay here with some untrustable - untrustable - _dragon _who lies to me! We are _through!_"

Harro's deep eyes held much sorrow for his now-lost love. "I did not lie to you, Jenai. I never meant for this to happen. But if you would leave me, so be it. But when our child is born, at least can you find it in your heart to let me visit him?"

"Or _her_." Jenai, of course, however much she hated the father now, did want this child, and wanted a girl. Very, very much. So she corrected Harro on the careless bit of speech that was common, which only last night she would have passed it by without notice, snapping at him.

"Or her," Harro amended. "I will take you home now, if you truly wish it." And how Harro hoped she did not!

"I do!" she spat, still angry. Jenai even failed to be touched by Harro's still-undying loyalty to her. Even when she screamed at him, yelled, had told him they were through, he would still carry her home. Jenai, hot with the fires of anger, did not notice. Nor did she notice that Harro carried her as gently as ever, and made no error in bringing her to Amarylla, her home.

But Jenai did notice, and after some while was sad, that she did not see hide nor hair of Harro again, not until a year later, when her child was three months old. But first, it must be admitted, she had to endure the wrenching pain of giving birth.

"Push, dear, push! She's almost out.. you'll see in a moment.. just one more push..!" cried the birthing-woman, encouraging Jenai in her pain. Jenai could barely hear, but even so she heaved, panting and gasping, and tears streamed down her cheeks. "Come now, just a bit more..!" cried the birthing-woman again. "Go on..."

And there was a cry as Jenai's daughter announced herself to the world, breathing the first breath of air, and cried. She was handed to her mother, who looked at the child with joy. A perfect baby, in her opinion. The girl was rather pale for a baby, and somehow there was a metallic sheen to her skin, silvery. And there were slight bumps on her shoulderblades. Jenai, disregarding these, hugged the baby happily, careful, however, not to injure her, and cried tears of joy.

The joyful mother looked at her daughter, her first child, and declared, "Her name is Loriana."


	2. Lori and Rodney

She could hear the dull thudding noises of wood hitting wood, below her, as the young elven children who wished to be masters and mistresses of battle practiced with wooden longswords sized for them. Loriana smiled. She remembered when she herself had tried that; she didn't like it. Loriana preferred her own art of divine magic. For Loriana was a druid, though odd in her age of forty. She would be equivalent to a human girl of perhaps ten; a child by all rights.

Oh well. Who cared? Loriana did not. Her father had vanished mysteriously, leaving only a carefully written note that was unmistakably in his own hand:

_**To Loriana: **_

_**My home is yours to keep, but do not take it until you are of age to do so and have left your mother. Respect other dragons, if they are good; and always, my dear,**_

_**Remember me. **_

And Jenai, though highly thought of in the community, had been attacked and killed by an assassin who was never found, but had somehow managed to make the death permanent, blocking even a _true resurrection, _to the town's dismay. And so Loriana was alone, and she chose to follow the path of a druid, a child of nature.

Loriana looked down at the village road from her vantage point, sitting atop the roof of the small but very good school. There were some people wandering the roads, off on errands, going home, et cetera. She had gotten up here, of course, by virtue of her half-dragon-ness: Loriana, to her continual joy, had wings- large silver draconic wings that told all too clearly her heritage.

And aside from that, she was silvery, with minute scales that were barely noticeable but for that they changed the color of her skin; her hair, unlike the normal elven dark, was silver-gray. Loriana had retractable claws, like a dragon, and had chosen to practice until she could use them as effectively as any dragon, dealing ordinary damage equal to that of a dagger, with each hand, when she hit things.

Lori wore loose hide pants and shirt, which worked well enough as hide armor, and no shoes. Her scales thickened and hardened on her feet, thus making footwear unneccesary. Lori had no spell component pouch; she had, at some point, found that she was similar to a sorcerer in the sense that she had innate power, casting magic spontaneously and without needing material. But Lori still paid homage to Ehlonna of the Forests, goddess of the woodlands, as her patron deity, from whom her spells partially originated.

And now she was bored. It was fun to watch the children learn- to a point. It was fun to play with the little kids and give them rides- to a point. Her life as a half-dragon elf druid was fun- to a point. And now Loriana, daughter of Harrosinuth and Jenai, was bored; and she intended to do something about it.

Lori sat in a tree, eating lunch, and listening happily to the sounds of the forest, grinning from ear to ear. Literally. Lori had an extremely odd quality that tended to be amusing and sometimes annoying: she was literal. Literally. If that makes any sense. In this case, it meant that her mouth- and thus her grin- actually stretched across her face, from ear to ear. It applied in things like throwing tantrums, which she used to do: a small object labeled TANTRUM would appear, and Lori would throw it. It wasn't a _solid _object, merely a random picture of literality, and would vanish again. But that, of course, was entirely not the point.

Lori was wearing, of course, her hide clothes, and her long, silver hair was held in a neat ponytail. As she finished her squirbit (a common type of creature: half-rabbit, half-squirrel, and very good to eat) sandwich, Lori heard a sound, her sharp elf ears twitching.

It was a human. A warrior. And however much he seemed to be proceeding in what he seemed to think was a quiet manner, that man was making enough noise to wake a sleeping elf! But then, he was untrained in moving through the forest, clearly, and elven ears were sharp.

Lori grinned. She waited until the warrior, a fighter-class human, came into view. Oh, very good- he was a good 6' 2" tall. And wearing armor on his shoulders. Mischief sparkled in Lori's bright green eyes. When the fighter was right beneath her (and naturally, had totally failed to notice the druid, who was quiet), Lori jumped agilely and landed on his shoulders with a grin, wings folded down to the point of being almost unseen. The man fell on his back with a startled cry.

"Tsk, tsk!" Lori said laughingly. "Mustn't make so much noise in a forest!"

* * *

The man stared at the girl who was now sitting on his stomach cross-legged, grinning at him. Why hadn't he heard her? More importantly, why had she heard him? Until he yelled, he'd been quiet. Or had he been? "Er, hello," he said gruffly, unsure what to do. This was not something you could simply whack with a sword. This silvery girl was not something to attack, for two reasons: 

1) She was a child. An honorable warrior who paid homage to Heironeous, God of Valor, would not attack a child without exceedingly good reason.

2) She didn't seem to be evil; just a child who was amused by jumping out of trees onto people. This was mischief,  
not meanness.

* * *

Lori grinned at the confuddled man. She had realized by now that she was smarter than him, of course. Fighters weren't exactly known for intelligence, anyway. "Hello to you, too. I'm Loriana, but you can call me Lori. Who're you? And would you like to go adventuring with me? I'm only forty, but I'm bored, and I'm a druid besides." 

The fighter blinked, assimilating this large chunk of things-to-assimilate. After all, he probably didn't even know what "assimilate" means. "I'm Rodney Stoutheart," he said proudly, after a moment. "I'm a warrior-adventurer, and- uhm- go adventuring with you? Sure, I'll protect you, if you're sure you're not worried about danger.."

An obscure smile twinkled in Lori's eyes at the fighter's interpretation of her request. Well, of course. The strong and not-very-smart fighter would assume he was protecting her, when she would likely be doing just as much. Which was the point. Lori smiled at Rodney and got up from where she was sitting. "Off we go then!" she said. Rodney nodded.

* * *

Rodney was a warrior, a man who had gone to a good warriors' school back at his hometown, Blueberry Hill. He was of average to dull intelligence, the type to look at you funny if you said a word like "quintessential" or "ovation." Rodney was, however, a staunch defender of anyone in danger, and had extraordinary strength, the kind of strength you find in high paladins and warrior-lords. 

And so he named himself Stoutheart and went to school.

There, Rodney had learned the arts of battle and statistics. He understood how to fight a good fight and win. So Rodney Stoutheart of Blueberry Hill set off to find adventure and further the cause of good and right, praying to Heironeous and happy to tell everyone.

Rodney walked along the path, making some effort to be silent and not scare anyone, and to listen for others there. Rodney looked for someone to adventure with. A strong sorceror, perhaps, or a monk? A cleric, maybe, he thought. And so Rodney was thoroughly stunned to have a young elven girl drop suddenly from a tree on him, laugh, and want to adventure with him!

So Rodney took his view. This Lori was a child, but she seemed to be agile and happy and perfectly wishing to go. So he would bring her along and protect her and everyone would be happy, yes?

* * *

Lori grinned at her new friend and danced up the tree again, causing Rodney to blink. How did she _do _that? Oh well, he thought, shrugging, and waiting for Lori to come down. 

Lori, meanwhile, was getting her cloak, and roomy belt pouches. The pouches went on her soft belt, and the cloak on her shoulders. Fortunately, it fit over her wings, and they could spread out and be used if necessary. The elf/dragon shook herself for a moment, readying, and dropped gracefully to the ground, supporting herself with her silver wings.

Rodney, of course, blinked again, staring, for he had not noticed her wings. "Why d'you have wings?" he inquired, ever the straightforward.

Lori smiled. "My dad was a dragon," she replied helpfully.

"Ah."

The two set off, Lori perfectly content and not seeming unduly annoyed that Rodney was twice her size.

They saw two figures in the distance; one was garbed in purple and the other in pink. Who were they? Lori sped up, to see who else might join their party to adventure.


	3. Xena, Lindsay, and Joan

To my only reviewer, Poiniard: Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate it. My comments:

Yes, I am aware that Tandy throws tantrums. And it's Peirs Anthony, not Peirce Anthony. :) Also, thanks for the advice about the listing, I'll avoid that.

* * *

It turned out to be two teenage girls. Lori tilted her head slightly to the side, eyes taking them in carefully.

The first wore deep purple. She wore pants which were well-fitted at the waist, loose higher up, and tight around the calves. Overtop of the pants were two long, flowing, and wide panels of cloth that flowed from a top portion which was almost like a skirt, but with the panels, attached with cloth around the sides; this was to the bottom of her rear. The panels were embroidered with flowers along the edges. Her top was a loose robelike shirt, with massively belled sleeves that almost were as long as the cloth panels of her skirt. All of this, of course, was a deep shade of plum that went wonderfully well with the girl's reddish-coppery hair, which was loose and fell just past her shoulders.

The second was dressed in hot pink. She wore a robe. This was a garment with a very flared skirt, enabling her to move easily. The sleeves were even more belled than the other girl's, the edges only half an inch from sweeping the ground, just like the skirt of the robe. She had a wide, shocking-purple belt that tied like with strands falling down off to the side. The belt held her robe well and made it look prettier, while actually helping her to not trip over the hem.

Rodney was about to step forward and inquire who in blazes they were when Lori tapped him and said softly, "Don't. I'll talk now, Rodney."

Rodney, having by this time figured out that Lori was smarter than he, just nodded and waited, while the dragon/elf stepped forward, towards the two girls.

"Hello," she greeted them. "Who're you? I'm Lori. Are you adventurers?"

The first, the one in purple, smiled at Lori, taking her for a child (which she was, but not in the practical sense). "Yes, dear, we are adventurers. I'm Xena, this is Lindsay; we're magicians."

Lori frowned at Xena's obvious interpretation of her age. "Nice to meet you then, Xena and Lindsay. I'm an adventurer too; I'm a druid. This is Rodney Stoutheart," she gestured to the fighter, who had followed her and was watching. "He's my friend, we're going to go adventuring. Rodney's a fighter." Lori nudged Rodney.

The fighter jumped, and then said, "Er, nice to meet you?"

Lori smiled at him. _Anyway, then,_ she thought. _A pair of magicians will add to our party well. _Aloud, she said, "Would you two like to adventure with us?"

Lindsay grinned. "Lets!" she exclaimed. She was obviously a very bubbly sort of girl. The group of now four set off again. Lori was thoroughly amused and a bit annoyed at what she termed, in her mind, 'all that humanish racket,' but she kept silent about it and made no comment about the annoying fact that she was both the youngest (practically) in the group, and the only elf. Oh well, she'd deal.

Lori walked in front, to Rodney's worry, but she reassured him that if anything attacked she would let him right at them. Besides, oughtn't a fighter to guard the rear? Rodney had accepted her idea, and was now vigilantly watching the rear.

Lori walked along, making no noise and listening for any. She heard what was even better, though: a silence until a twig snapped and a cry rang out in the elven tongue: "Damn!"

Lori actually laughed. The elven girl fell from the tree, catching herself neatly and standing. She saw Lori- who, amazingly, was her age- and erupted in laughter as well, laughing at herself. Lori had that affect on many people. This new elven girl had oddly sharp teeth and astonishingly bright green eyes. She was dressed in black, which perfectly matched her hair. Her clothing consisted of pants that were baggy to the knee, but bound around her calves past the knee; a shirt that was tucked in to the wrapped belt at the waist; and soft elven-made leather boots.

Lori and the new elven girl stopped laughing after a few moments, only to look at the highly surprised looks on the three humans' faces and erupt all over again. After a few minutes they stopped laughing again, still grinning.

"So anyway," the girl said, "My name's Joan. What's yours?"

Lori replied, "I'm Lori. In case you're wondering about these-" she stretched her wings- "I'm half-dragon, oddly enough. I'm also a druid, what're you?"

"A rogue. But don't tell the fighter that, he looks scary and highly lawful. We shall just say I'm a trapmaster?" Joan said.

Lori agreed. The elves would share the secret. Rodney, Lori knew, would not approve of a rogue's talent for thievery.

So the two elven girls walked over to the other three members of the newly formed adventuring party. "This is Joan, she's a trapmaster, lockmaster, etcetera, someone who is good with stuff like that. She's in our group now. Okay?"

* * *

Xena was a bit suspicious of the way Lori had referred to Joan, and she looked her over. From her knowledge and intelligence the magician could tell that Joan was a rogue. But she would respect her privacy. If Joan did not want her status flouted, it would not be. Besides, Joan seemed like a nice girl, as was Lori, and Xena was fairly sure the two would soon be good friends, as the same age and sharing race. Indeed, the two were already chatting away- in what Xena was fairly sure was Elven. She herself spoke and wrote only Common, Draconic (the arcane language, and incidentally also that of the dragons), Halflingish, Dwarven, and Gnomic: there had been few elves around where she grew up, and Xena had had no oppurtunity to learn Elven.

* * *

Joan, for her part, was thoroughly pleased. She'd found a friend, an elven girl who understood her like no human ever could. They were already becoming friends and discovering similarities between them. One obscure thing that even Lori, who was admittedly smarter than Joan, could not understand between them is that both had recently been having odd instances of uncontrolled magic they didn't create.

Such as Lori's literality, which had only emerged very recently. Joan herself kept snapping twigs without actually stepping on them, which she found highly annoying. They debated asking one of the magicians, but decided against it for now.

* * *

Well, what d'you think? Can you tell what Lori and Joan's magic problem means? Hint: They're just now reaching puberty/teenager-ness.


	4. Sorcery?

Rodney watched, dumbfounded. In the space of an hour, he'd accumulated four companions, all girls: two magicians, a druid, and some thing they'd called a trap-master or someotherthingy. Whatever that meant, it sounded useful. Anyway. Two elves, both children it seemed. Two humans. And he rather liked the one in pink, she was quite nice. Hm. Rodney wandered on, lost in his thoughts, slightly dull though they were, and checked behind once in a while.

He was interrupted in his consideration of the situation by Lori's voice. "Shall we stop and camp?" she inquired. Rodney looked around with surprise; night was falling! Wow, that day had gone by quickly. Maybe he didn't pay as much attention as he thought he did. Oh well.

* * *

Lori talked for most of the afternoon with Joan, both speaking in Elven, since they preferred that language, being elves. Besides, that way no one else could listen in, even accidentally. The two speculated about the magic thing together.

"What could this magic problem be? Random uncontrolled magic? Who's ever heard of such a thing?"

"Could it be a spell?" Joan suggested after a bit.

"No, too unlikely. Why would anyone cast a spell on you or me?"

"Good point. Uhm.."

"A hereditary something-or-other? No, wait, my mom didn't have this problem at all.. my dad!" Lori looked up, excited. Could this be a part of her dragon-ness? "My dad was a dragon, could that be it?"

"No," Joan said, "That wouldn't explain why I have it too."

"Maybe you have dragon blood?" Lori offered.

"But I don't have wings!" Joan protested. "Or... silver-ness, or sharp nails, or sharp- say, I _do_ have sharp teeth.. erm.."

Lori looked at Joan. "Well, maybe you have a little bit of dragon blood. In any case, that might be it. I'd ask my dad, only..." she stalled out.

"Only what?" inquired Joan curiously.

"He left. I don't know why. He left a note and everything, but I haven't the faintest idea why he left.."

Joan patted Lori on the arm. "He'll come back. He's a dragon, what could hurt him?"

Lori smiled. "Good point. Er, look, nighttime.." They had indeed talked all afternoon. Lori raised her voice and spoke in Common. "Shall we stop and camp?" she inquired. Everyone agreed, and Rodney offered to go hunting.

* * *

Xena spent the day in her thoughts, reviewing spells she had memorized and thinking about the group she was now in.

However, Lindsay grinned silently. The elven girls were speaking elven. She, unlike Xena, had found it in her time to learn Elven, and she listened. Lori spoke first. _"... Random uncontrolled magic? Who's ever heard of such a thing?"_ Random uncontrolled magic? Sounded familiar, she'd read something about that in a book once, hadn't she..? Lindsay wondered, thinking.

_"Could it be a spell?" _Joan, this time.

_"No, too unlikely. Why would anyone cast a spell on you or me?" _

_"Good point. Uhm.." _

_"A hereditary something-or-other? No, wait, my mom didn't have this problem at all.. my dad! My dad was a dragon, could that be it?" _Her dad was a dragon? Oh, right, the wings. She'd noticed before, but forgotten. Say! Lindsay had an idea. She and Xena could do the same thing Lori and Joan did- speak a language only they knew. Say, Halflingish? She'd say Draconic, the language of arcane magic, but Lori would most likely speak that.

_"No, that wouldn't explain why I have it too," _continued Joan.

_"Maybe you have dragon blood?"_

_"But I don't have wings! Or... silver-ness, or sharp nails, or sharp- say, I do have sharp teeth.. erm.."_

_"Well, maybe you have a little bit of dragon blood. In any case, that might be it. I'd ask my dad, only..." _

_"Only what?" _Exactly what Lindsay was wondering.

_"He left. I don't know why. He left a note and everything, but I haven't the faintest idea why he left.."_

_"He'll come back. He's a dragon, what could hurt him?" _Lindsay grinned. Indeed. It could pay to have a half-dragon in the group.

_"Good point. Er, look, nighttime.." _Lindsay looked up in surprise and found that it was true. Oh. She opened her mouth to suggest they camp, but was beaten to it by Lori, speaking in Common again. "Shall we stop and camp?" Along with everyone else, Lindsay agreed. As they were sitting around a fire, eating roasted squirbit (it turned out Rodney was good at hunting), the order was thus: Lindsay and Xena sat next to each other, with Lori on Lindsay's other side and Rodney on Xena's other side. Joan sat between Rodney and Lori. Lindsay leaned over and tapped Lori on the shoulder. She'd remembered what it was she'd read about that uncontrolled magic thing. "I think your problem might be sorcery, Lori. Practice controlling it, Xena and I can teach you spells if you have the talent."

Lori stared at Lindsay. "What?"

"I said, you two are going to be sorcerers."


End file.
